Community Leadership Training

Research and our own experience increasingly show that leadership is a key ingredient to successful community building. Recognizing and developing new leadership in our groups, organizations, and communities has to be an on-going process. Designed to meet your needs, this training can be offered in a series of 90-minute workshops, or a full-day training/retreat. We’ll explore the meaning of and the skills inherent in community leadership, discuss recruitment of volunteers and board members, practice running effective meetings, and working together collaboratively.

A series of four workshops designed to explore the role of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace, each workshop looks at one of the aspects of how we recognize, respond and manage our own and others’ emotions. Emotional Intelligence is especially important in situations when we are under stress, for example when giving and receiving feedback, meeting tight deadlines, dealing with challenging relationships, managing with limited resources, navigating change, and working through past setbacks and failures. Understanding how our emotions and the emotions of others change the way our brains function, and can complicate our ability to respond appropriately under stress, is an important life-skill. The opportunity to explore these issues together as a team in an environment removed from the every-day stresses of the office deepens the end-result and its lasting outcome.

What is Power? Where does it come from? How do we use power to sustain involvement in our communities? Power is a key ingredient in making community change and in leading our organizations into the future. This workshop is an exploratory conversation into the importance of recognizing how we “source” our activities in the world. We will compare and contrast types and styles of leadership, identify three kinds of power, and explore how our motivation to lead is found within. We not only can nurture and cultivate this power within us, but also help others to see and recognize their own. This is the “secret sauce” to longevity in making community change!

This workshop explores different leadership styles. Balanced Leadership Theory helps participants discover for themselves how they can best regain their equilibrium when they begin to feel unbalanced in their leadership role. We explore our own strengths as leaders and discuss ways to maintain balance in our lives. Recognizing others’ leadership styles is emphasized as a tool for recruitment as well as a strategy for effective team work. Leadership is about bringing out the best in others. How can one bring out the best in others through a collaborative leadership style?

This workshop introduces each of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Personality Temperaments and how they affect the way in which we communicate with others of different styles. Learning objectives of this workshop include the ability to identify the four specific temperaments, based on the MBTI; through an interactive exercise, participants determine their own temperament; and in small group discussions, they explore the implications of their personality style on interpersonal communication and effective collaboration. This workshop is especially impactful for teams who work together on a regular basis. This opportunity to recognize one another’s strengths and challenges supports teamwork and community building.

Sometimes, simply recognizing that we all communicate in different ways is enough to break through barriers to getting things done. If we can learn to identify and show respect for others’ ways of communicating, not only will our team accomplish more, but we’ll also have more fun while working together. Are you someone who pays attention to the relationships and concerns of everyone involved, or do you like to get down to business right away? Appreciating that each style has its strengths is the way forward.